This is a letter by Dr. Kafeel Khan, whose sole "crime" was trying to prevent deaths from deprivation of oxygen. He was arrested and has now spent 8 months in jail without bail for little reason more than the state needing a scapegoat for its own failures.

8MS, IN JAIL WITHOUT BAIL

AM I REALLY GUILTY?

I cherished each moment. Every scene is still alive like it is happening right now in front of my eyes, even after 8 months of unbearable torture, humiliation behind the bars. Sometime I asked myself am I really guilty? And the answer pop out from the core of my heart

No, no - A Big NO.

The moment I got that WhatsApp message on that 10th August 17 fateful night, I did everything a doctor, a father, a responsible CITIZEN OF INDIA would/should do. I tried to save each and every life who was in danger due to sudden stoppage of liquid oxygen. I did my level best to save those innocent kids who were dying because of lack of oxygen.

I frantically called everyone, I begged, I talked, I ran, I drove, I ordered, I yelled, I screamed, I consoled, I counselled, I spent, I borrowed, I cried I did all what is humanly possible.

I called my Head of the Department, my colleagues, Principal BRD, Acting Principal BRD, DM GKP, AD Health GKP, CMS/SIC GKP, CMS/SIC BRD MC informed them about the grave situation arising due to sudden stoppage of liquid oxygen and how kids life are in danger due to lack of oxygen supply. [I have all the call records]

I begged gas suppliers MODI GAS, BALA JI, Imperial GAS, Mayur Gas Agency, All the hospitals around BRD medical college afterr arranging their contact No - for jumbo cylinders to save hundreds of life of innocent kids.

I ran from one Qubical to another, from ward 100 to ward 12 to Emergency Ward. From point of oxygen supply to point of delivery to make sure uninterrupted oxygen delivery.

I drove to get cylinder from nearby Hospitals in my car. When I realized that was not sufficient I drove to SSB and met its DIG and explained him the unprecedented situation. Their response was very quick and supporting. They arranged big truck and group of soldiers to carry supply cylinders from BRD to Gas Agency, filled it, brought to BRD and ran again to refill. They worked for continuous 48 hours.

Their spirit boost ours. I salute SSB and very thankful for their help.

JAI HIND

I spoke to my junior/senior doctors, I ordered my staff. Don't get panic, don't be disheartened, do not get angry with agitated parents, do not take brake - we had to work as a team to treat efficiently to save every life.

I consoled grieving parents who had lost their kids, I counselled those agitated parents who were getting angry after losing their kids. There was so much chaos. I explained to them liquid O2 is finished, but we are trying to make it with jumbo oxygen cylinders.

I yelled/screamed to everyone to focus on savings lives. I cried. Actually everyone in the team cried to see the havoc created by the Administrative failure to pay the dues to the liquid oxygen suppliers - resulting in such a grave situation.

We did not stop trying until liquid oxygen tank arrived around 1:30 am on 13-08-2017.

But my life turned upside down when CM Yogiji Maharaj arrived next morning on 13-08-17. He asked – so you are Dr Kafeel? You arranged cylinders?

I was like – yes sir.

He got angry – so you think by arranging cylinders, you became hero, I will see it.

Yogiji was angry because – how this incident came into the media. I swear to my Allah, I did not inform any media person that night. They were already there that night itself.

Then police started coming to our home – hounding, threatening, torturing my family. People warned they would kill me in an encounter. My family, my mother, my wife, my kids were so scared that I do not have words.

I surrendered to save my family from the humiliation, misery – thinking when I have not done anything wrong, I should get justice.

But numbers of days, weeks and months passed – August, 2017 to April, 2018. Holi came, Dussehra came, Christmas gone, New Year came, Diwali came – every date – Tareekh Par Tareekh (date after dates) hoping will get bail. Then we realised that judiciary is also working under pressure. (Even they acknowledged the same)

Sleeping on floor with more than 150 prisoners in a cramped barrack with millions of mosquito at night and thousands of flies in the day. Trying to swallow food to live, bath half naked in the field and sit in a toilet with broken door. Waiting for Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday to meet my family.

Life is hell, miserable not only for me but for my whole family. They had to run from one pillar to another – from police station to court, from Gorakhpur to Allahabad – in hope of justice. But all in vain.

My daughter whose first bithday I could not celebrate is now 1 year 7 months old. As a pediatrician, it is very painful, disheartening not to see his child to grow. As a pediatrician, I used to taught parents importance of milestones and myself do not know when my daughter started walking, speaking and running.

So now again that question haunts me – am I really guilty? No, no – NO.

I was on leave on 10th August 2017. (It was sanctioned by my HoD). Still, I rushed to do my duties – is that wrong?

They made me head of the department, vice chancellor of BRD, prabhari (in-charge) of 100-bed acute encephalitis syndrome (AEH) ward. I am a junior most doctor and joined only on 08-08-2016 as a permanent employee. I was working as nodal officer with NRHM and lecturer pediatrics. My whole work is to teach students, treat kids. I was nowhere involved with purchase/tender/order/maintenance/supply/payment of liquid oxygen/jumbo cylinders.

If Pushpa Sales (the official supplier) stopped liquid oxygen supply, how am I responsible for that? Even non medico could tell doctors’ work is to treat, not to buy oxygen.

The guilty are DM Gorakhpur, DGME (director general of medical education), principal secretary health education for not taking any action against 14 reminders sent by Pushpa Sales for its Rs 68 lakh dues.

It was a total administrative failure at higher level, they did not realise the gravity and just to save themselves, they made us scapegoat and put us behind the bars so that truth will remain inside Gorakhpur jail.

When Manish Bhandari (director of Pushpa Sales) got bail, we same same light that may be now we would also get justice and come out to live with my family and to serve again.

But No – we are still waiting.

Supreme Court says – bail is the right, prison is exception. This is a classical example of miscarriage of justice.

I hope time would come and I would be free with my family and my daughter. Truth will prevail. Justice would be served.

Before I get into deconstructing the coverup, let us get one thing straight. If the government were innocent, taking straightforward action would have been a simple issue. There would be no need for organized trolls, massive fake news deployment on right wing blogs, smear campaigns against a doctor recognized to have saved lives in a nightmare that already took too many. The coverup, in my eyes, is a confession of guilt. Because direct and appropriate action needs to be avoided, it becomes important to manipulate the country into believing another reality. Running through the various coverups, diversions and scapegoating attempts.

No child died due to lack of oxygen supply

Known facts blow this nonsense claim out of the water so much, there is little to dispute. Oxygen supply was stopped. Patients who died were dependent on oxygen. Efforts were made to ventilate them manually, efforts failed, they died. People saw their kids struggle to breathe and die. If this isn't death due to lack of oxygen, one wonders what is.

Given that one doesn't expect doctors, administrators, magistrates to be illiterate, one must conclude that this is a deliberate misreporting of facts that the UP govt is doing.

Yogi Adityanth calls deaths a 'despicable incident'

One wonders which deaths Yogi Adityanath is talking about. The ones that didn't happen as a result of oxygen deprivation or the ones that are not out of the ordinary because 7 deaths a day is normal.

The Uttar Pradesh government is denying a problem with the deaths at all.

So, if there are no deaths out of the ordinary, what is Yogi Adityanath calling despicable? The normal happenings in Uttar Pradesh?

One tends to agree that what is coming to light about how things work in UP is ghastly, even if we don't agree about the deaths being routine.

Pushpa Sales, oxygen supplier booked

The hospital did not pay the bills for the oxygen. The supply was cut off after the supplier continued to provide oxygen for months without payment. When they could no longer do it, the government, instead of finding out why they were not paid, is investigating them for stopping supply. What is to investigate in why they stopped supply? Oldest reason in the book - unpaid bills!

Principal of college resigns / sacked

Depending on which version you believe, the principal of the Baba Raghav Das Medical College resigned on the 12th - the day after the tragedy. The government apparently was planning to sack him, but he had already resigned.

Why did he resign or why did the government want to sack him, if there were no death due to lack of oxygen, as claimed by the health minister and the number of deaths was normal?

"No oxygen deprivation."No postmortem that would prove it conclusively either

there is no provision to get postmortem conducted on patients who died of infection. “Hence, we are not conducting autopsy on bodies of the children" Dr. P K Singh New Principal of BRD Medical College "No post-mortem was done on the deceased" Siddharth Nath Singh Health Minister "No postmortem is being conducted on the children who died at the hospital. No family member has come forward till now requesting that postmortem be conducted. We have received no orders for autopsy, in case postmortem examinations were conducted, the cause of death would have come as cardio respiratory arrest." K K Gupta Director General (Medical Education) “A detailed inquiry is on… There was no shortage of oxygen,” Anil Kumar Gorakhpur Division Commissioner “I have not received any directive to conduct autopsy on the bodies.” Ravindra Kumar Chief Medical Officer

Hospital staff kept the information about non-payment from Yogi Adityanath

Um... oops. Pushpa Sales wrote letters directly to the Chief Minister's office. Multiple times. Well in advance. If Yogi Adityanath won't be informed by hospital authorities AND he won't be informed by his own office about his correspondence, perhaps he should resign and make way for a CM at least respected by his own staff.

Adityanath had made mega efforts against encephalitis

Deaths happened after oxygen supply failed. Only 12 out of 60 deaths in 5 days were in the encephalitis ward. If govt can't understand names of wards, then their competence on encephalitis fight too is suspect. God knows what Adityanath fought, if he cannot even recognize the name or lack of it.

Or, it is a deliberate irrelevant diversion to project Adityanath as blameless.

“Anyone found guilty will not be spared,” ~ Adityanath

If this isn't just lip service to appear to be taking the deaths seriously, why were autopsies not ordered to establish the cause of death conclusively? Why was the doctor who saved more children from dying sacked and organized party trolls put to the job of smearing his reputation? Why is there no investigation into the delay in paying Pushpa Sales for the oxygen supply or investigating rumors of demands of kickbacks?

The targeting of Dr. Kafeel Ahmad

The organized BJP fake news and paid tweeting machinery is at work spreading rumors about Dr. Kafeel Ahmad. Identical points made in identical posts across known BJP fake news websites display a desperate and rambling array of accusations against Dr. Kafeel Ahmad.

Clearly, someone with a reason went digging for dirt on him after appreciative reports of his role in the Gorakhpur tragedy emerged. No such compilation predates the incident. All the compilations make several identical accusations. It seems that BJP does not appreciate anyone saving lives in Uttar Pradesh.

Or more likely, BJP does not like a Muslim saving lives, when it is clearly their thug Adityanath's govt that has fucked up big time and resulted in these deaths. Therefore, standard process. Sleaze, slander, carpet bomb false information.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad stole oxygen cylinders from the hospital

During normal operations, oxygen is supplied to a large central tank and piped through the hospital for providing to patients. A tank is large enough to last the entire hospital for 6 days and costs several lakh rupees. Oxygen cylinders are only the emergency backup, and repeatedly missing or empty cylinders would be noticed. This is like saying someone stole your society's water tank and no one noticed. This is ABSURD.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad spent a year in jail for raping a woman

The minimum sentence for rape in India is 10 years. It is impossible for a rape convict to be out of jail in a year, unless he spent a year in rape without trial and was set free for lack of a case - which is the police closure on record - of him being falsely accused.

If cases being filed is evidence of guilt, Adityanath has cases of murder and attempt to murder against him. Sack? Yes, please.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad was responsible for oxygen supply

Not true. Verified by several individuals and news outlets. Besides, bhakts need to decide whether there were no deaths due to lack of oxygen, or whether there were deaths due to lack of oxygen, requiring someone to be sacked for the lack, in which case, the paper trail for investigating lack of payments is useful. Multiple letters to both the hospital as well as the CM show that the matter was raised often by the supplier. So why was he not paid?

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad's ward was the only one with deaths - no adults depending on oxygen died.

False. 18 adults died. This was reported by local newspapers well before the incident became a national outrage.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad supported Samajwadi Party and was appointed by them. He was a critic of BJP

Irrelevant even if it were true. The political beliefs of Dr. Kafeel Ahmad are irrelevant to the situation and should not be a reason to punish him in a misplaced political vendetta.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad had an illegal private practice

It is common for doctors in government hospitals to have a private practice - though it is illegal. Government salaries do not pay as well as private practice and enforcing this rule would result in good doctors stopping working at government hospitals. However, in the case of Dr. Kafeel Ahmad, it isn't true, as he was employed by the hospital on an "ad hoc" basis and was not a full employee and thus the rule did not apply to him.

Even if all the allegations against Dr. Kafeel Ahmad were true (and they seem pure fiction so far)

There is no official explanation for why he was sacked. His guilt on other issues does not explain why he is sacked after saving lives when he was employed just fine before. The sacking of Dr. Kafeel Ahmad does not explain why the bills for oxygen were not paid.

Clearly, there is every effort to evade looking at the obstruction of payments to Pushpa Sales that led them to cut off oxygen supply to the hospital.

Combined with multiple allegations of kickbacks, avoidance of autopsies to establish cause of deaths, a CM who had been informed of the dues pretending to be unaware of them, and organized trolling and fake news being employed to deflect attention and invent scapegoats, it seems clear that the holds on payments came from someone high up in Adityanath's government - the person/s is being protected now.

Otherwise, it would have been a simple matter of finding the deaths outrageous, like everyone else and calling for an investigation into the dues owed by the hospital and the deaths to establish the cause. There would be no need to find someone to blame - the people naturally to blame would be known to the masses and they would be behind bars by now.

As I watch the Gorakhpur tragedy unfold, "Nero's Guests", a documentary by P Sainath, comes to my mind. It concludes with Sainath's speech where he shares a piece of ancient history involving Nero, the infamous emperor of Rome.

When Rome burnt and Nero could not control the fire, he decided to throw a party and invite "everybody who was anybody" to deflect attention from the fire. But there was no provision to illuminate the huge garden that was supposed to accommodate the laundry list of invitees. Which is when Nero had an idea.

He summoned the convicts in the Roman jail, particularly the ones about to be hanged or imprisoned for life, and burnt them alive in the periphery of the garden. The fire ensured there was no absence of light, and the party went on without any difficulties.

As horrific as it sounds, Sainath makes an important point. "The problem for me is not Nero," he says in the speech. "What did Nero's guests do? Did they speak out against it?"

The reactions to the Gorakhpur massacre and I use the word massacre with all responsibility, indicate we, as a society, particularly the urban middle class, have become Nero's guests. The government hospital does not pay 60 lakh rupees for kids' oxygen but spends 40 crores on cow ambulances. In the aftermath of what happened, the doctor who spent from his own pocket to save kids is sacked. One or two other people have been suspended, but the babus, and more importantly, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have shrugged responsibility when the buck directly stops with him.

Yet, social media is flooding with comments normalizing the incident. We are being told how people have died at the hospital in the past, and how Gorakhpur is an ideal town. The doctor who saved kids is sacked and we are told how he is actually an immoral man being accused of crimes in 2009. So when Times Now anchor Navika Kumar asks her guest to not "rake up kids' deaths and divert from real issues" while debating Vande Mataram, she seems to be a mere reflection of Nero's guests who watch her show.

When a man is killed in Dadri, we discuss whether the meat in his fridge was beef. When a man is lynched in Rajasthan, we wonder whether he indeed had a legitimate permit, as if it justifies the lynching if he did not. The way we, in the media, report rural India, and the indifference with which the urban middle class treats the plight of those who are not "one of them", are all examples of normalisation that establish ourselves as Nero's guests. However, If 60 infants dying due to criminal negligence does not disturb us, then nothing will.

The normalization has severely and successfully diluted the value of human life. As George Orwell famously said, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others."

The death toll in the tragedy at BRD Medical college in Gorakhpur has reached 79, but there are no signs of the government focusing its priorities on the well being of citizens. Instead, the government and its obedient hordes on social media continue to seek scapegoats that would let those responsible for governance off the hook - no matter the cost.

When BRD Medical college did not pay their supplier of liquid oxygen since November 2016, the bills kept mounting. Pushpa Sales Pvt Ltd kept the supply going on humanitarian grounds for months, while demanding payments for the dues. The college did not pay. Finally, the supplier stopped the supply of oxygen to the hospital, leading to the deaths of large numbers of children and some adults - patients who were dependent on oxygen for survival.

Why were the bills not paid?

The hospital had 3.86 crore in its account on Wednesday. Yet the dues were not paid, putting patients at risk.

Multiple sources have revealed to the media that the payments were held back due to the supplier not paying kickbacks to people in key positions in the government.

What action taken?

Well, Yogi Adityanath promised action and was dutifully and unquestioningly reported by a gushing media. Sakshi Maharaj called it a massacre. Clearly, BJP, as always was going to be "not responsible". Enter the mission bakra hunt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvdOdI9-EaE

So who are the villains now?

Pushpa Sales

The supplier of oxygen, who provided oxygen to the medical college for months in spite of non-payment of dues and had to stop, because their supplier refused to give them more credit when the hospital wouldn't release funds... well, the government is booking them for holding back supply of life saving oxygen.

Dr. Rajiv Mishra

The principal of BRD medical college has been suspended - why is uncelar, because the UP government insists no one died because of lack of oxygen. The doctor says he anticipated this coming and had resigned. He had allegedly been instructed to hold back payments to Pushpa Sales.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad

Dr Kafeel Ahmad appears to have been tossed on the heap mostly because he's an attractive target to trolls - likely because he is a Muslim, because otherwise, it is clear that he worked hard and at own expense to save lives of children when oxygen ran out. He still saw 60 die.

And of course, Muslim target locked, we have the usual suspects rewriting reality to coddle their masters. India Samvad and several other BJP mouthpieces put out articles slandering Dr. Kafeel Ahmad with their usual sleaze. Some of the nonsense put out is addressed here.

Apparently Dr. Kafeel Ahmad was caught appearing in medical exams on behalf of someone else, is a rapist, was suspended by Manipal university over criminal charges, verdict upheld by High Court ..... and other random results they could quickly cobble together in order to discredit him.

Dubious stories and irrelevant to his actions in the emergency, regardless. Even if the stories were true, none of them explain why the oxygen bills were not paid by the hospital. And even if all the stories were true, it doesn't change the fact that he did save lives.

Dr. Kafeel Ahmad has a private practice.

I dare BJP to enforce that doctors in government hospitals can't have private practice. All doctors in government hospitals have private practice. But wait. BJP would probably happily do it, given their overall goal to collapse and privatize healthcare anyway.

Deaths only happened in Dr. Kafeel Ahmad's ward, when there were also other adults depending on oxygen - who would have been at risk too, if oxygen supply was really cut off - inplying that Dr Kafeel Ahmad was somehow responsible for the deaths and not oxygen deprivation.

The only thing abundantly clear at this point is that the BJP machine cares not a hoot for accountability and will punish others for their own actions and irresponsibility. There is still no explanation for why the hospital did not pay for life essential oxygen on time. Was there a scarcity of funds? Were there funds withheld? Who is to blame for the non-payment and will the heads of people responsible for these dead children AND adults ever face any consequences, or will random people continue to be persecuted and coverups splashed in social media till people tire of expecting accountability from this plague masquerading as a political party on yet another subject?

Cobrapost brings to light the conspiracy and exposes the conspirators behind the events of December 6, 1992, which rewrote the history of modern India on communal lines

In a long undercover investigation, Cobrapost has unearthed the conspiracy behind the fall of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, exposing the actors who pulled the strings from behind the scene, weaving about a complex cobweb of intrigue and deceit that even the CBI could not unravel after years of investigation. Working at different levels, these actors kept the whole plan a highly guarded secret with its details never coming out. The plan was given a codename, ‘Operation Janmabhoomi’, which Cobrapost found apt to use for its undercover operation, as well, and was executed with precision of a military operation, from conducting training to putting all logistics in place and finally launching the assault, using multitudes of crowds as cover.

Of these, while the Liberhan Commission has indicted 15, the CBI has named 19 accused in its chargesheet, strangely enough leaving out B. L. Sharma, Mahant Avaidyanath, Nritya Gopal Das and Ram Vilas Vedanti. In all, 40 are facing trial in a CBI court, of which 32 have been made accused in FIR No. 92/197 as executors, while the remaining eight have been made accused in FIR No. 92/198 as conspirators.

The investigation took Associate Editor Ashish to Ayodhya, Faizabad, Tanda, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Mathura and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh; Jaipur in Rajasthan, Aurangabad and Mumbai in Maharashtra and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

The Conspiracy and Preparations for the Assault

Role of the Bajrang Dal: As the Cobrapost investigation reveals, the conspiracy to demolish the Babri Masjid was hatched at the top level and those who were recruited for training did not know it till the countdown for mosque’s fall began a month before in November. In June 1992, Bajrang Dal, for instance, conducted a month-long military style training for 38 of its cadre chosen from various regions in Sarkhej, Gujarat. The training was given by retired high-ranking military officers. Ideological teachings were imparted to the cadres by the likes of Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Acharya Dharmendra, Dr. Praveen Togadia, Jaibhan Pawaiya and Ashok Singhal.

The drills conducted at the Neela Teela in Ayodhya by Bajrang Dal cadres took the training they had received in Gujarat a step further. But how and when such skills -- like climbing taller structures with the help of grappling hooks and ropes -- would be put to use was not revealed till the day when the top VHP office bearers asked them to form Laxman Sena with the specific purpose of dismantling the disputed structure in a top secret meeting that was held in the basement of Ram Katha Manch. According to Ramesh Pratap Singh: “Uss baithak mein hum paanch jo humari prashikshit logon mein se paanch the paanch ke baad chatha Ramji Gupta aur Durg Singh Chauhan. Humare adhikari ne humse milne ke baadunka samark wahi unka adesh tha baithak lenge Durg Singh Chauhan aur karravai jo bhi aapko karna ho aap kya karoge rachna kya karoge theek hai wo parde se huth gaye (There were five persons from among those who had received training in this meeting. The sixth person was Ramji Gupta and then there was Durg Singh Chauhan. After meeting with us this office bearer told us Durg Singh Chauhan would be our contact point and he would coordinate all the meetings. Decide whatever you want, how you will form it. After that this office bearer disappeared from the scene).” This VHP office bearer was none other than Champat Rai Bansal.

Bajrang Dal’s War Cry ‘Jai Sheshavatar’: Apart from Ramesh Pratap Singh, this secret meeting was attended by Dharmendra Singh Gurjar from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Hariya Lal Parikh from Rajasthan, Arun Khanna from Punjab, K. Nagarajan from Tamil Nadu and Arun Kumar Tiger from Jharkhand. Ramji Gupta was put in charge of this band of 1,200 RSS workers secreted from various regions. Gupta supplied them with all the logistics such as chisels, heavy-duty hammers, pickaxes, spades, grappling hooks and sturdy ropes in good numbers. The army was divided into smaller groups of 10 each with a leader and each group had its job cut out. All these groups had the instructions to merge with the crowds when they would surge toward the Babri Masjid for karseva and finish the tasks assigned to them. They would not listen to any leader, however senior and respected he might be, till the task was accomplished. ‘Jai Sheshavatar’ was the signal for the groups to begin work on their brief, which according to Ramji Gupta, had to be raised thrice.

According to Dharmendra Singh Gurjar of Bajrang Dal from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, from among this band of Laxman Sena, even a suicide squad was formed, which they calledBalidani Jattha, a la the fidayeen Islamic terrorist organisations use. This squad was supposed to lead the assault on the Babri Masjid from the front.

When the Babri Masjid was razed to dust on December 6, it was Shiv Sena chief Balasheb Thackeray who proudly claimed before the world that it was the Shiv Sena which did the job, as BJP leaders like L. K. Advani went about town offering apologies. Thackeray’s claim was not hollow as the Cobrapost investigation establishes.

Role of the Shiv Sena: Like the VHP, the Shiv Sena too had its own plan to demolish the Babri Masjid and conducted a secret training camp in Bhind–Morena in Madhya Pradesh, bordering Uttar Pradesh, where necessary skills were imparted to its cadres. Says Vinay Pandey of this training: “Usmein Jai Bhagwal Goyal the Delhi ke aur ek Madan Lal Chadda Ghaziabad jinhone wahan vayavastha diya tha, Mahesh Ahuja the aur Anand Digheji uss samay Maharashtra se aaye the training dilwane ke liye (There was Jai Bhagwal Goyal from Delhi, there was Madan Lal Chadda from Ghaziabad who had made arrangements for the training, there was Mahesh Ahuja and Anand Dighe had come down from Maharashtra to impart training).”

The top Shiv Sena leadership including Balasheb Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Satish Pradhan and Moreshwar Save were keeping a tab on all these activities. Moreshwar Save is also learnt to have provided financial support for the training. A co-accused in the case, Save helped with money to run the training camps. “Save ne kuch madad nahi ki sirf political aur arhtik madad ki. Uss samay khane-peene ke liye hum 65–70 hazar rupaya humko diya gaya tha wo logon ki khane peene ki vyavastha karne ke liye (Save didn’t help much. He helped us politically and financially. He gave us Rs. 65,000–70,000 to arrange food for the trainees),” claims Pawan Pandey, a Shiv Sena leader who has been chargesheeted by the CBI in the case.

The Relic of Mir Baqi on Sale: In the thick of action on December 6, Pandey saw the domes of the mosque crumbling and saw the heavy stone plaque erected by Mir Baqi declaring the establishment of the Babri Masjid, fall apart in three pieces. He took away two pieces of the antique relic as memento. which are still in his possession. Pandey proudly says: “Wo toh abhi humare paas hi hai. Do hissa humare paas hai ek hissa jama hai (This is still with me. Two pieces are with me while the other is with the authorities).” Pandey now wants to auction these relics to make some quick bucks.

Arsenal Used:While the VHP and its youth wing the Bajrang Dal were holding secret meetings at Ayodhya to plan the final assault on the Babri Masjid, the Shiv Sena leadership too was confabulating on the fate of the Babri from New Delhi’s North Avenue, which was attended by Save and Pradhan, among others. If all methods failed, Shiv Sena had an explosive Plan B: dynamite the mosque. Claims Goyal: “Humare paas dynamite bhi tha hum dynamite bhi lekar gaye the wahan par agar zaroorat padti usko bhi chala dete iss taiyari se gaye the hum (We were carrying dynamite there. If need arose, we had gone fully prepared to use it).” In 1990 too, Shiv Sena had tried this option, which was foiled as the police arrested Suresh Baghel who was carrying 28 dynamite sticks.

Imagine the mayhem it could have caused had such zealots succeeded in their diabolical designs.

If not dynamite, petrol bombs were definitely used by these saboteurs to dismantle the structure. This dangerous act was committed by the Bihar team of Bajrang Dal. Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was also seen planting a petrol bomb there by none other than his fellow karsevak Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya. Look at the claim Pawaiya makes: “Ek petrol bomb do baje koi lekar aaya jo eent mein lagane ke baad dhuan nikal kar reh gaya uske baad hila bhi nahi … Brij Bhushan laya tha arre petrol bomb (Somebody brought a petrol bomb at about 2 pm. After it was planted between the bricks, it did not work, releasing some smoke only. Oh, it was Brij Bhushan who had brought the petrol bomb).”

Apart from petrol bombs, the forward squad of Bajrang Dal used traditional tools like chisels, heavy-duty hammers, pick axes, spades and grappling ropes were also used in good numbers to bring down the mosque.

Sankalp to Demolish Babri: Sensing the do-or-die mood of Ram bhakts (devotees) who had descended on Ayodhya in lakhs to settle the issue once and for all, a Sankalp (or oath), was administered. The onerous task of initiating the vow fell on Ram Vilas Vedanti. The Sankalp said: “Sankalp mein likha tha aaj dinank 6 December ko hum sabhi Ram Bhakt Ram Lala ke prangan mein yeh pratigya karte hain ki jahan par khandahar khada hai uss jageh bhavya mandir banane ke liye iss Ram Janmabhoomi ke mandir ke khandahar ko hatana avashyak hai isliye isko hatake bhavya mandir ka nirman karaya jaaye iska sankalp hum log Ram Lala ko samarpit karte hain iss dhang se tha (There was written in the oath that on this day of December 6 we all Ram bhakts take this oath on the premises of Ram Lala that it is necessary to remove the structure from where it stands to make a grand temple there. It is necessary to remove the structure to make a Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. We all take this oath for Ram Lala).” No sooner had the oath been administered, began the assault on Babri.

Dubious Role of VHP Chief Ashok Singhal: As it is already known and as it has come to light in the Cobrapost investigation as well, there were two determined attempts to demolish the Babri first in October 1990 and then in December 1992. However, the first attempt ended in police firing in which karsevaks were killed. Recounting the horror of October 30, Sakshi Maharaj says that if there is anybody to be blamed for the killing of karvsevaks, it has to be Ashok Singhal, none else: “Toh mere saamne Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha Maharaj kuch log nahi marenge toh andolan upar nahi uthega toh aap agya do jaane ki … toh Ashok Singhal ji ne kaha ... Vamdev ji ne kaha bache marenge toh bahut kaam kharab ho jayega ... Bole Maharaj jab tak nahi marenge tab tak kuch hoga nahi andolan, tabhi barhega (Before me, Ashok Singhal said ‘Maharaj (to Vamdev), the movement would not gain momentum unless some people die’. This is what Ashok Singhal said. Maharaj Vamdev said it will be disastrous if children die. Ashok Singhal again said the movement will not get a fillip until they die).” Sakshi avers that well-known karsevaks like the Kothari brothers from West Bengal and Mahendra Singh from Rajastan were deliberately targeted by the police at the behest of some vested interests spearheading the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

These revelations add a new dimension to the Ayodhya conspiracy and raise a pertinent question with regard to the intent of its leaders: Were they using the youth as sacrificial goats?

Like Sakshi Maharaj and Uma Bharti, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, another frontline leader of Bajrang Dal at that time, is critical of the manner the leaders used the youth of the country for furthering the movement, only to dump them later: “Ye sab bewaqoof banane wali baatein hain isiliye toh humara desh bewaqoof banta aa raha hai … pehle hum jawani ke josh mein the … junoon mein the ek junoon tha guzar gaya … logon ne upyog kiya aur chhod diya use karke (All this talk is an exercise in making a fool of people … this is why our countrymen are made a fool every now and then (by such leaders) … in those days I was being driven by the enthusiasm of youth … I was driven by plain madness … it was plain madness which has passed … people used us and threw us out after using us).” Drawing an analogy, he says “leaders use us in the same manner as we use tobacco”. What he says shows his complete disenchantment with proponents of Hindutva: “Aise logon ke sath kiya bees saal baad logon ki zaroorat nahi ya jo bees saal baad naye yuva honge unka upyog karenge (This is what they did. After 20 years (of the Ayodhya movement), they don’t need people like us … or they will use the new generation of youth after 20 years).”

Another interesting fact that Cobrapost investigation has thrown up is that disenchantment against the BJP leadership runs deep also among the more hardliners of Ram Janmabhoomi movement leadership.

Another leader who has only disdain for leaders like L. K. Advani is Santosh Dubey. He says bluntly: “Jisko iss desh ka Hindu bhagwan maan raha ho jab wo hi jhooth bolne lag jayega toh log usko shaitan manane mein bhi der nahi karenge. Advani jhoothe aadmi hain unhone Jinna ko Brahmin aadmi bataya. Ganda aadmi hai kul milakar. Dhancha tudwane mein unki poori sahmati hai kaise jageh jageh unhone jaloos nikala sabhayein ki har jageh bolte the. Aapne toda hai ya nahi toda hai lekin aapne lalkara toh, todne wale toh taiyar kiye(If someone who the Hindus revere as God begins to tell a lie, it will not take long for them to trash him as a Satan. Advani is a liar who said Jinnah was a Brahmin. He is a dirty fellow in all. He had agreed on the idea of felling the structure. It was he who led the processions, addressed the meetings and talked about it everywhere he went. You broke it or not, but you gave a call and prepared people for the job).”

Role of Kalyan Singh, the Nero:A fallout of the events that followed the failed attempt on Babri and killing of karsevaks in October 1990 was that BJP came to power in four states, and Uttar Pradesh was one of them, with Kalyan Singh at the helms. Now, the approach was diametrically different from the approach that the local administration had in the 1990 karseva. Although Kalyan Singh had the foreknowledge of what going to happen on December 6, he chose to look the other way round. Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti, another leader of the movement, claims to have informed Kalyan Singh about it a day before: “Paanch December ki raat ko hi Kalyan Singh ke paas samachar bhej diya gaya tha aur usmein ye kaha gaya tha ki yadi awashayakta padti hai toh dhancha bhi tod diya jayega aapko kya bhoomika nirwah karni hai vichar kar lijye (On the night of December 5 itself Kalyan Singh was informed of it and he was told that if need be the structure would be felled. Now, you decide what you have to do).” Sakshi Maharaj also claims to be in constant touch with the then chief minister. It is learned that at one point, Kalyan Singh had made up his mind to resign in the morning on December 6 when he came to know an assault on the disputed structure has begun, but senior leaders of the RSS like H. V. Sheshadri and Murli Manohar Joshi dissuaded him, while BJP leaders in Lucknow made him captive the whole day until a clean job of the mosque had been made at Ayodhya.

What made the job easier for these zealots was a sympathetic administration and police force, which instead of discharging their constitutional obligations were goading the karsevaks to remove the “headache” the Babri had become for them. Pawaiya makes another interesting observation about the role the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) played on December 6, 1992: “Wahan nirman kayra ka jo stall tha, uss stall ko todkar ke saaman nikala. Usmein jo rasse the aur jo PAC tha jo Uttar Pradesh ka usne chhaini aur ye saari cheezein logon ke haath mein di ki isko saale ko sirdard ko khatma karo to wo sahyog mein lekar usase toota tha. Matlab PAC favour mein thi poora sainya bal ye keh raha tha kya-kya chahye tumhein tod daalo tum ye tha wahan par (There was this stall for construction work. That stall was broken apart and the ropes and other stuff were taken out. The PAC of Uttar Pradesh gave the people chisels and other implements saying they should remove this headache forever. This is how they cooperated in the demolition. I mean, the PAC was in absolute favour. The constabulary was saying tell us what you want. You break it down. This is how it happened).”

There is no surprise if the then District Magistrate Ravindra Nath Srivastava and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Devendar Bahadur Roy find themselves among the accused in the CBI chargesheet.

Role of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao: After the Babri Masjid demolition, there were allegations flying thick and fast that then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao had given his tacit support to the demolition. Cobrapost investigation finds these allegations true as some leaders at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement like Vinay Katiyar, B. L. Sharma, Santosh Dubey, Sakshi Maharaj and Mahant Ram Vilas Vedanti openly acknowledge Rao’s supportive role.

An Elephant and Four Blind Men: Interestingly, on the surface, the interviews all these proponents of Ram Janmabhoomi movement had with Cobrapost’s Associate Editor Ashish remind us of the story we read in our school days in which four visually challenged persons get hold of an elephant and describe it the way they perceive the different body parts they are holding. But in the end, they serve the same purpose. Similarly, all the major leaders interviewed describe the various aspects of the movement, and between their claims and counterclaims one has to read the subtext to ascertain their involvement in the larger conspiracy and execution, so subtle are their answers at times to pinpointed questions.

For instance, Champat Rai Bansal would draw an analogy when he describes his role in the demolition of Babri Masjid. Bansal asks the reporter who killed Rawan? When the reporter says it was Ram who killed Rawan, Bansal in turn asks: “Vibhishan ki bhoomika nahi hai (Didn’t Vibhishan have a role in it)?” Bansal is no minion to make such statements that would not carry weight, for the high-ranking functionary of VHP and a close aide of Ashok Singhal was one of the architects of Laxman Sena which was entrusted with the task of razing Babri to the ground on December 6, taking advantage of the sea of restive karsevaks gathered there at Ayodhya. His understatement suffices to make it clear that the whole ‘Operation Janmabhoomi’ was conducted with utmost secrecy, with even some senior most leaders of the movement never coming to know of such audacious plan.

Callous Face of Hindutva: However, a very callous and indifferent face of this movement and its leadership comes in full glare when the Cobrapost reporter reminds Mahant Avaidyanth of the sacrifices numerous karsevaks such as Vinod Vats, whose old parents now have nothing to fall back upon. Avaidyanath nonchalantly makes light of such a sacrifice: “Sabko marna hai tumko bhi hai mujhe bhi marna hai. Mrityu ko kaun rok sakta hai(All have to die, both you and me. Death is inevitable).” He has the same philosophy for his old, helpless parents: “Wo bhi marenge unko bhi marna hai (They will also die. They also have to die).”

A Witness to the Fraud: The Cobrapost investigation brings to the fore one more fact: the appearance of Ram Lala at the Babri Mosque was not the result of some divine intervention but the handiwork of a petty priest and two senior government officials who became willing conspirators in this fraud. A witness to this deceit was none other than Baikunth Lal Sharma alias Prem, two-time BJP MP from East Delhi. It all happened before his eyes in 1949, Sharma claims, when he was posted in Ayodhya with Military Police as a Warrant Officer. Priest Ram Chandra Das, a regular visitor to their unit, informed them how on a particular day Ram Lala would appear. Debunking the theory of Ram Lala’s ‘divine appearance’, Sharma avers: “Arre ji kahe ke prakat hone wale … prakat kiya hai … wo toh maharaji ka kaam tha na Ram Chandra Paramhans (How would He (Ram Lala) appear? He was made to appear … It was the handiwork of Maharaj Ram Chandra Paramhans).” At some other point in the course of his interview, this Hindu-zealot-turned-Khalsa claims: “Ayodhya ki baat sun le main 15 December 1949 ko Military Police mein tha, Ayodhya mein hi tha mere 13 logon ka main warrant officer tha. Hum logon ko jab moortiyan sthapit hui main wahin tha … Thakur Guru Dutt Singh ji the aur Nayyar sahib the theek hai inhone sahyog diya humara jab kabhi hum Faizabad mein humari unit thi bacche Muktar Ghat par (Now, listen to what happened in Ayodhya on December 15, 1949. I was then with Military Police and was posted at Ayodhya. I was Warrant Officer of a unit of 13 military personnel there. Posted there was Thakur Guru Dutt Singh and Nayyar. They helped install the statues. Our unit was stationed at the Muktar Ghat in Ayodhya).”

Although the chronology of events Sharma claims to have been witness to is not accurate (there is a difference of only one week), what he says is irrefutable, for the two officials K. K. Nayyar and Guru Dutt Singh were, respectively, the district magistrate and city magistrate of Faizabad, who wrote the script of this fraud, collaborating with priests Ram Chandra Das, born Chandreshwar Tiwari in Bihar, and Dharam Das. In 1952, Nayyar took voluntary retirement to join Jan Sangh, the political front floated by the RSS, and became an MP in 1967.

Priest Ram Chandra also grew in stature to attain the title of Paramhans in the Hindu religious order as lakhs of Hindus were mobilized by the RSS and its extension VHP and other Hindu outfits in the 1980s with the opening of the gates of Ram Janmabhoomi in 1986 by the Congress government of the day, with the movement reaching a crescendo in 1990 and finally culminating in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, irreconcilably polarizing the country on communal lines.

This is a copy of the Cobrapost expose. Backed up here just because BJP is busy invoking the Election Commission and what not to silence this.